Never to be Released by Paul B. Kidd

Paul B. Kidd’s excellent book Never To Be Released details the worst crimes in Australian history. “Never to be released” is, in Kidd’s words, a rare recommendation that is handed down to the most vicious, merciless and dangerous murderers in society.

This is the first installment in what has become so far three books by Kidd. The author is the son of veteran crime reporter, the late Joe Morris and says in his foreward that his father “…developed an almost irrational fear and horror of those he loved being harmed…”because of the horrific things he saw daily as a police rounds reporter.

The first volume of Never to be Released includes stories of 1986 rape and murder of Sydney nurse Anita Cobby (a crime that shocked Australia), child killing couple Valmae Beck (who died in prison in 2008) and Barrie Watts, “Granny Killer” John Wayne Glover and mass murders and rapists David (committed suicide in prison in 2007) and Catherine Birnie.

Chilling reading and thank God these killers will “never be released”.

12 comments

Hi. I’m trying to find information on Christopher Robin Worrell’s childhood. It seems I cannot find any information at all on his childhood or upbringing etc. Im just curious as to what may have affected him in his childhood to prompt him to commit the murders he was responsible for…. His autopsy after his death showed a bleed on the brain or something to that effect. The bleeding on his brain was present before the car accident that killed him. This may explain why. I’m still curious though to find out if his childhood may have had something to do with it.. Thanks in advance… Any input would be appreciated

Damien, i once read a book from a library, which was a memoir of the SA Forensic Psychiatrist (or similar). He wrote of some notorious SA criminals including Worrell. I believe he developed a relationship with the Worrell family after the notoriety. I read it about thirty years ago so i am sketchy on the details. It is probably available from the NLA library network. Can’t remember the name of the book.

If you’re referring to the memoir of the SA parole officer, it has nothing to say about Chris Worrell, except that he (the parole officer) had extreme anxiety about having been partially responsible for his release, and that he’d known and used his father (biological or step, it wasn’t made clear) as a real estate agent WHILE he was Chris’ parole officer (this struck me as foolish and improper).

It also points out that Chris’ parole files were destroyed after the car accident, in the belief that they’d never be needed again. Even if they weren’t, there’d be a good chance SA would have lost them anyway.

There is strong evidence that Chris blackmailed his prison psychiatrist into providing him a favourable report for parole under threat of exposing him as having sexually molested him during sessions. This may be true as the psychiatrist left Australia, seemingly under pressure of possible de-registration. At the same time, Chris was a compulsive liar with no genuine conscious and would readily concoct such a lie. One of Chris’ more benign crimes was to threaten exposing men as homosexual if they didn’t pay him a fee (despite his own ironic homosexuality).

Otherwise, of course all information on Chris is a secret, lost or unavailable (at least without cost) – it seems the popular photos of Chris came to the press from the informant who brought James Miller to justice only after the $30-40,000 reward was offered – but ultimately it doesn’t really matter…

If you want to understand a degenerate like Christopher Worrell you can research violent sex offenders generally.

The Paul Luckman/Nicole Pearce + Robin Reid murders are a similar case in Australia.

Me too! Why no info? To protect his family who are also victims by association? Is there a clamp on his birth and death certificates? I know Adelaide well, where did he go to school? Why did he leave the RAAF? How did he relate to people in every day life? There are some possible factors connected to being a psychopathic sex killer; absent father, addiction to porn, and possible head injury.